Lord of the Rings meets Knights of the Roundtable in this epic new saga from bestselling author Matthew Wolf. When legends come to life the world trembles from a single name. Ronin. Once-heroes from a different age, they wield elemental powers... wind, water, fire, stone, forest, sun, moon, flesh, and metal. At the same time, a young man discovers his best friend with a sword in her stomach, and dark wings sprouting from her back. Guards rush onto the scene, accuse him of the act, and he is forced to flee. In a new world without his memories, Gray must find his way amid legends and darkness, as he wrestles with an elemental power inside himself. A power all too similar to the infamous Ronin...

The Dragon Oracles THE NEW EPIC FANTASY SAGA A continent on the brink of war. A journey to save a kingdom. Forced onto a path he does not wish to follow, a young man finds himself the focus of ancient powers. When Gialyn accompanies his father on a dangerous trek across their homeland, he attracts the gaze of an ancient dragon. The dragon offers Gialyn power, but the price may prove too much to bear. Meanwhile, Brea, the Dragon Guardian, has plans of her own. With the power of her dragon charges, she summons an ancient warrior to aid in their cause. But will this powerful being help them, or add itself to their growing list of enemies? http://geni.us/B014LXVQP4/

On her seventeenth birthday, Kami receives a mysterious artifact and a ticket to visit her estranged grandparents in Egypt. When she arrives, no one is there to meet her. Alone in an unfamiliar country, she discovers their disappearance is only part of a greater threat. Whispers of strange creatures made of a shadowy substance can be heard among the nomads of the desert. A new queen has quietly come to power, given strength by a powerful evil unleashed when she opens an ancient jar. Kami must rely on a band of misfit friends she makes along the way to save her grandparents and stop the queen. But does the handsome boy she just met have the answers, or is he part of the reason for her grandparents' disappearance? Born of Shadow is the first book in the Shadow Wars Series and is a featured story on Wattpad. It has hit top 10 rankings in adventure, fantasy and paranormal hotlists. It was chosen by the hit TV show ONCE UPON A TIME for Best Heroes & Villains and is now available to buy on Amazon! © Copyright 2014, All rights reserved

When seventeen year-old Runner was sentenced to death for stealing a loaf of bread in MegaCity One, his dreams were literally at an end. But then he opts to sign up for the Remnants of Men, a government sanctioned search for a rumoured fresh water lake beyond a radiated wasteland. At first, it seemed like a second chance to a new life, the transformation from zero to hero. But after an encounter with a rabid gang of men suffering an acute insanity, he soon comes to understand that he is one of many discarded into the wasteland to study the cannibalistic effects of a new drug called the Sixth Sense. Olivia Patterson has had one too many doses of the Sixth Sense and owes a massive debt to a shadowy rebel and loan shark called Death-Throe. Being the daughter of the City's dictator, she knows too well that the gallows awaits any who associates with the rebel. In an attempt to free herself, she acquires an asset in the form of Runner and finds herself always at the edge, for if he survives it means freedom for both, but if he dies...

SAMPLE OF PUBLISHED BOOK THAT WAS FIRST WRITTEN ON WATTPAD. Fletcher was nothing more than a humble blacksmith's apprentice, when a chance encounter leads to the discovery that he has the ability to summon demons from another world. Chased from his village for a crime he did not commit, he must travel with his demon to the Vocans Academy, where the gifted are trained in the art of summoning. The academy will put Fletcher through a gauntlet of gruelling lessons, training him as a battlemage to fight in the Hominum Empire's war against the savage orcs. Rubbing shoulders with the children of the most powerful nobles in the land, Fletcher must tread carefully. The power hungry Forsyth twins lurk in the shadows, plotting to further their family's interests. Then there is Sylva, an elf who will do anything she can to forge an alliance between her people and Hominum, even if it means betraying her friends. Othello is the first ever dwarf at the academy, and his people have long been oppressed by Hominum's rulers, which provokes tension amongst those he studies alongside. Fletcher will find himself caught in the middle of powerful forces, with nothing but his demon Ignatius to help him. As the pieces on the board manoeuvre for supremacy, Fletcher must decide where his loyalties lie. The fate of an empire is in his hands ... Did you know that the Wattpad version of Summoner: The Novice is just a large sample of the first draft? The professionally published version is longer and 100% completed, with more demons, more lessons and more action! You can buy it now in all good bookstores and online, including Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, Amazon, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo and Nook. Please vote, follow and add my book to your reading list if you like my writing :) The cover is by Małgorzata Gruszka, one of my favourite artists: This book is represented by Juliet Mushens at The Agency Group.

************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.

"His mother's screams remained etched in his mind. He promised himself that night he would never again stand by as people he cared for suffered, and he would one day kill Volcseck. He intended to keep those promises." Falcon Hyatt has a problem. For reasons unknown to him he can wield all the elements, not only basics like fire and water, but also those more advanced, like space and poison. And now the chaos element, the same one his parents' killer Shal-Volcseck wields, has awakened within him, with catastrophic results. To complicate matters, the Suteckh Empire has declared war on the capital cities of Va'siel. Now he must venture out into the world with his friends Lao, Faith, and Aya on a mission to stop the Suteckh from taking over Va'siel, and find his parents killer, as all the while he struggles to suppress his newfound abilities. In his quest Falcon is forced to question what he's really fighting for, where his loyalties lie, and his own character. Is he truly a good person, or an even more dangerous menace than the dreaded Shal-Volcseck? Element Wielder is the story of faith, love, and a young man's struggle to continue on his quest, when surrendering to his emotions and giving up is so much easier.